Want to Work in Tech without Coding?

Do you ever see people do fabulous things with tech and want to do exactly the same but when you see a line of code, your brain just stops functioning?

Have you ever wished to work, contribute and just be an IT baddass but you honestly know coding isnt for you?

It is possible to work in Tech without coding… and that’s what I do. I consider myself a Techie but I don’t (always) code.

There’s this misconception that a lot of people have, that working in tech == coding. This is not true. There are soooooooooo many things you can do in tech that won’t require you to touch a line of code.

I am relearning how to code thanks to access to a Udacity scholarship but if I am being honest, I’m not 100% sure it’s for me. I do know how to code to an extent but I was never really passionate about it, and that still hasn’t changed (at least right now). I’m all for coding, software development and women in tech, but I feel like while anyone can learn how to code if they really want to, it is just not for everyone. Coding is also not as easy as people say it is, to be honest.

Another thing people don’t like to talk about but is a reality we can’t ignore is that the IT field is quite lucrative in terms of pay/salary/income/financial stability. Some people want to work in tech because they want financial security and I think that’s OK.

If you are in the same place – you are passionate about tech or just want to be like one of the fab tech ladies we all admire so much, I have listed a couple of roles you can do and comfortably work in the IT field without coding so much.

Sales

You can be a sales person in tech: the products created by developers need to be sold to someone eventually, and tech sales is a high paying career.

Project Management

Most goals in tech are achieved through a project, from planning, to creating the software, attaching it to a hardware, implementing, monitoring, controlling, repairing, updating, and so on. These are all part of the software development life cycle and project managers keep things moving smoothly. You don’t need to know how to code to be a Project Manager. Get some experience working with projects, even get a PMP certificate, and you’re good to go.

Product Management

PMs are in charge of anything that has to do with the product. From the idea, to how its made, to who it is sold to, how it is marketed and portrayed, etc. It’s a very lucrative career where you might need some coding skills to understand things, but won’t necessarily need to write actual code.

Marketing

There are different types of marketing in tech: product marketing, digital marketing, growth hacking, brand marketing, company marketing, marketing strategy, and marketing analytics. The list is nearly endless.

Technical writing

Writing for people to understand tech, or writing for developers, tech companies, and reviews.

Business Development and Management

Develop and look for ways to grow and evangelize the business, forging partnerships with institutions in other fields, closing deals, or consulting.

Research

There’s so much non-coding related research in tech it’s amazing. If you are interested in tech and research you can actually combine both!

Hardware

Who do you think created the laptop or phone you are using right now? Yep, a person in tech who probably didn’t code.

UI/UX

User Interface and User Experience is a big field that helps companies make products that people actually enjoy using. If you like aesthetics and fashion, this is a field you might excel in.

Analyst

Use data to predict the future of the business or product, or how the product should be made better. There are so many career options here, it’s mind blowing.

Robotics

Coding is necessary in some parts of robotics, but you can work around it by focusing on the hardware, engineering and analytical aspects if you really don’t want to code.

Testing

Everything that’s made has to be tested. Some forms of testing need scripts which might not be so difficult to learn, but there’s always the old fashioned way of testing, where you try to use the product in different environments and scenarios.

Data Science

Databases are whole field on their own. There are engineers, designers, analysts and so many other fields in database tech. Even if you need to code in this field, the predominant language is SQL, which isn’t very difficult to learn.

IT support

Help people and enterprises with IT issues, configurations, installations, training, IT policies, or deployments.

Network Engineers and Managers

This is another wide interesting field you can go into. It involves but isn’t limited to configuring, managing, monitoring servers, systems and network policies. It runs into telecoms and cloud computing too — I was a network administrator for a while and I didn’t need to write any code.

Cybersecurity

Another broad field in which you can choose if you want to code or not. It includes ethical hacking, security policies, network management, and other things that have to do with company security.

FinTech

Now this is not an actual job but a field you can specialize in if you are interested in finance. It’s a new field, but a lot of jobs are springing up here. I think of Cryptocurrency as FinTech.

BioTech

For those in the Biology and Medical fields. It includes genetic manipulation, stethoscopes that work with AI, Machine Learning, and other interesting things that I don’t know much about.

With IT/Tech, there’s something for everyone and my list isn’t exhaustive. Then there are even more ways you can apply tech to real life and what you are doing but that’s for another article.

The reality is that Ms. Jon might be a Blockchain engineer today but work in marketing tomorrow. A positive and ever-learning mindset is required to work in tech. Things change everyday, and while you might not like to code, if you have a project or a job to do that requires some coding, get ready to get your hands dirty. It’s not such a big deal — you also cant limit your scope of learning or walk around thinking that AI is the Antichrist. You need to be inclusive, hard working, to believe that you can be anything you want to be, and have that urge to make things better.

Let me know what you think about this topic in the comment section below.